RE: UPDATE/INSERT BY NAME
In-Reply-To: <1f09ikINN7fa@emory.mathcs.emory.edu> obelix.informix.com!johnl@emory.mathcs.emory.edu
(Jonathan Leffler)
TITLE: RE: UPDATE/INSERT BY NAME
In <1f09ikINN7fa@emory.mathcs.emory.edu> Jonathan Leffler replies:
> I'm not clear what the advantages of the UPDATE BY NAME operation are
> supposed to be. In interactive SQL, there are no records, so the syntax
> is irrelevant to dbaccess etc. And in I4GL, all it saves is a little bit
> of typing for less clarity of program. I don't see any major advantages to
> the syntax. Against it, it would be highly non-standard and bears no
> resemblance to anything I know of which is likely to occur in any future
> SQL standard. I'd have to rate UPDATE BY NAME as a non-starter.
> I'm even less clear of the advantages of INSERT BY NAME.
>
> Someone else suggested CREATE TEMP TABLE LIKE record.* -- similar
> arguments apply here too.
>
> So all in all, I'm not in the least bit convinced. You could try running
> the proposal past me again since I deleted the original as something I
> wasn't going to answer, but I don't think it'll make much difference to my
> views on it
What can I say? I (still) seems like a good idea to me....
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